


rainbow hair

by a_secondhand_sorrow



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Hargreeves Siblings - Freeform, Sibling Bonding, Swearing, They all deserve better, and having fun, au where YouTube and Jenna marbles exist for them bc Why Not, for tua pride month on tumblr, not-straight Vanya, not-straight five, theyre learning together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 10:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19332277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_secondhand_sorrow/pseuds/a_secondhand_sorrow
Summary: It was like life had color again. She felt, and she saw, and she did. She loved and she knew, and she knew herself. She saw a rainbow for the first time outside of her window, and somehow, she felt it right in her heart.***(or: hargreeves sibling bonding for tua pride month!)





	rainbow hair

**Author's Note:**

> just some Hargreeves sibling bonding and being queer but not really that explicitly bc it’s mostly bonding. this is my first time writing for TUA and I’m not really happy with my characterization but I wanted to get something out for the pride month (challenge? prompt list?).
> 
> you can find the full prompt list under the tag tuapridemonth on tumblr, as well as everyone else’s contributions to the month! I’ve reblogged it on both my main (@itstrulyastrangerthing) and my fanfic account (@a-secondhand-sorrow) and you can find it under the same tag there.

For as long as Vanya could remember, her hair had been falling into her face.

Reginald had often made her tie it up, so she could assist him better; Mom would stand with her by the mirror in the mornings and tuck her hair back into their pins or a hair tie with a precision and comforting smile only Grace could really manage. Those were the few times Vanya could count on with Mom, since she spent the rest of the day running around to treat wounds and comfort her siblings when Reginald’s training went too far.

After she moved out, her hair was the least of her worries. She felt nothing and everything at once, and twisting her hair back reminded her too much of the home she left behind. She was gray, just like the pavement and the sky and the strings of her bow. Looking back on it, she was sure it didn’t help that she was drugged and sedated. But once she was free of that, it was like life had color again. She felt, and she saw, and she did. She loved and she knew, and she knew herself. She saw a rainbow for the first time outside of her window, and somehow, she felt it right in her heart.

Being back at home was always tough, but she tried to come back more. Five and Klaus were there almost all of the time, and Allison and Diego were back enough that it was worth it. At some point she began to pass her time in the living room, sometimes with company and sometimes by herself. It was odd, for her, to make herself comfortable in a space she’d only ever felt attacked in. There was something… bright in it.

After a few weeks of this, Klaus seemed to catch on to when Vanya was in the living room. He started staying there with her, mostly just sitting in silence, but occasionally talking. He liked to watch her practice for violin concerts-as a kid, he, along with Five, been one of the only ones to ever listen to her play. As she paused to shift her hair behind her ears, Klaus spoke up suddenly from where he lay sprawled on the couch in one of Allison’s skirts she’d left in her room.

“Ever dyed your hair?”

Vanya looked up at him, lightly startled, but shook her head slightly. She wasn’t she if she liked the smirk on his face.

“Do you want to?”

“Depends. What color?”

“All of them?” Klaus said, quite helpfully, before coughing a little. “Rainbow. For your new rainbow awakening. It’s pride month and all.”

“I was sedated and brainwashed.”

“Fact still stands. I think your artsy, musician friends would like it. And it’s a nice ‘fuck you’ to Reginald.”

A voice piped up from behind Vanya. She turned to see Five, in all of his 58-year-old-trapped-in-13-year-old-body, stalkerish glory. “Have you ever dyed hair?”

“Oh, yeah, plenty of times.” At Vanya’s stare, he relented. “Once or twice. You’re in, Five?”

“I want to see this so that I can say I was there before the great disaster.”

“Perfect. Vanya?”

Vanya shook her head a little again to clear her thoughts, moving one hand to run through her hair. It might be nice. “Fine.”

***

One trip to the beauty supply store and minimal arguing later, Vanya, Klaus, and Five found themselves crammed into one of the bathrooms of the Academy. She had changed into an old t-shirt and wrapped a towel around her shoulders, although Klaus had started grabbing and sectioning her hair before she could apply Vaseline to her neck so that she didn’t get chemical burns everywhere. Five had been (begrudgingly) tasked with mixing the dyes while Klaus readied and applied the bleach. Five was also at the ready with a phone to take pictures of the inevitable future blackmail.

“I’m gonna warn you,” Klaus began, before he was cut off by Five.

“Always reassuring.”

Klaus ignored him. “I’ve mostly learned from Jenna Marbles.”

“Wait, no-”

“Who is this?”

“She’s a YouTuber,” Vanya supplied to Five, trying to get back to Klaus. “Please don’t mess me up that badly.”

“Her last name is _marbles_? Has she lost hers?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. Jenna never used bleach on her hair, it’ll be fine.”

Vanya took a deep breath. “Fine. Just do it before I change my mind.”

Admittedly, Klaus was much better at this than Jenna was. He had some regard for actually parting hair and brushing the bleach onto it. It was almost scary how quickly he did it all, too, and knew just when to wash the bleach out.

“Maybe I should dye a strand of my hair,” Klaus said, eyeing his hair in the mirror. “Or Five’s.”

“Absolutely not,” Five spat, although it lacked his normal Five venom. “I did my job.”

“We’ll see,” Klaus drawled, brushing bleach onto a strand of his hair. “You’ll want to join the celebration with us soon enough. Can’t let anyone think you’re straight.” He turned back to Vanya. “Are we thinking colors by section or in a gradient?”

“Gradient?”

“Like,” Klaus gestured with the clean brush from the top of her head to the end of her hair. “Red to orange to yellow and so on.”

“I’m not sure if I trust you with that.”

“I can do sections, but it’s boring.”

“I’m boring.”

Five piped up again. “No, you were sedated for twenty years.”

Vanya looked at her hair in the mirror, now bleach-blonde instead of the brown she’d had for her whole life. “Gradient, then, I guess.”

“Yes!” Klaus said, voice pitching up slightly. He reached a hand out to Five for a high five. He reacted after only a moment’s hesitation.

***

From there, Vanya really tried not to look. It felt like Klaus knew what he was doing, but she had no frame of reference. Aside from Jenna Marbles videos, of course.

While they waited for her color to lift, Klaus somehow convinced Five to bleach a strip of his hair. While Five’s bleached, Klaus painstakingly created a rainbow on his strand of bleached hair, recreated on Five’s head a few minutes later. Five pretended to be annoyed by it, but Vanya could tell he enjoyed it.

“I’ve killed people. Why am I here?”

“I’ve seen the people you killed, cupcake. That’s nothing.”

Five glared at Klaus, and he actually froze for a second. It was easy to forget how intimidating Five could be, since he looked like a scrawny thirteen year old. “Don’t call me cupcake. Ever.”

Vanya interjected a little desperately. “I think my color is lifting?”

“Great,” Klaus said, turning away from Five after a few final touches to his new pride rainbow hair strand. “We should rinse it out in twenty minutes, probably.”

Five spoke up suddenly, voice uncertain. “Are we gonna be… sibling goals?”

“Twinsies?” Vanya deadpanned into the mirror. “Or triplet-ies?”

Klaus dropped his head into his hands before lifting it back up again as he realized there was still dye on them. “Please never say that again.”

***

Vanya continued not to look at her hair. She didn’t want to see, because she was worried. Mostly she didn’t want to get her hopes up. She’d spent so much of her life not even aware of the parts of her she couldn’t see, and even though she wasn’t entirely sure she now wanted it on display to anyone who saw her, she strangely wanted it to turn out well. She’d been quiet for so long; she just wanted to be _loud_.

Klaus washed out both his and Five’s hair before hers as they lifted more quickly. She had to say, Klaus had done well. Their hair (or parts of it) was clearly rainbow-colored.

As Klaus rinsed and dried her hair, she felt more apprehension than she could remember feeling. When he turned her towards the mirror, however, she felt that apprehension melt away as she muted a hand to her hair. “Oh my God.”

“Oh my God is right,” Klaus said, stepping back to admire his work.

Vanya was glad he’d convinced her to do the gradient. Her hair started red at the roots, fading into every other color of the rainbow the further down it went. It was unnatural, but it felt good. It felt right.

She turned to Klaus, who looked a bit shocked himself. “You did an amazing job.”

“Yeah. Yeah I did.” Five hit him lightly on the shoulder.

***

Turns out, Diego and Allison were both home and waiting for them in the living room.

“What the hell happened to your hair? I mean, it looks good, but-”

“Do you two _match_? Wait, three, no, did-”

  
“-did _Five_ dye his hair too?”

Klaus flashed a grin, looking back at Vanya. “Hey, is the any dye left?”

Diego’s eyes widened. “No.”


End file.
